Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and his wife, Tammy, shared moments from their past, some of their life's challenges, and how their faith has sustained them during a presentation Saturday night called, “Family, Faith, and Football," at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Platte City (Mo.) Stake.Ted Thomas, of Leavenworth, Platte City Stake president, welcomed the Reids to the church. Thomas is also director of the Department of Command and Leadership at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.

Leavenworth Times staff report

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and his wife, Tammy, shared moments from their past, some of their life’s challenges, and how their faith has sustained them during a presentation Saturday night called, “Family, Faith, and Football," at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Platte City (Mo.) Stake.Ted Thomas, of Leavenworth, Platte City Stake president, welcomed the Reids to the church. Thomas is also director of the Department of Command and Leadership at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth.The crowd of about 800 church members and visitors heard Tammy Reid speak first about how she and Andy met at Brigham Young University as physical education majors.During those college years, Andy played for LaVell Edwards’ BYU football team. Such a friendship remains that Andy still receives weekly phone calls from his former coach.Andy, who joined the LDS Church while courting his wife to be, noted that he took the discussions back to his home town of Los Angeles, independent of her influence.With his decision made, he asked his future father-in-law, equal to his size, to baptize him. “When 260 and 260 got into the Baptismal Font, the whole front row got wet," Andy joked.The couple said they have traveled with football jobs around the country, having five children in five different states.“Tammy had five kids and somehow it completely ruined my body,” Andy said.Tammy said she made sure the home team always had the attention they needed from their father.“I’ve always thought that it’s my job as the head coach of the head coach to keep him informed of things,” she said.A poignant moment came when the couple talked about the loss in August 2012 of their oldest son, Garrett, who at the time was working on an internship with the Philadelphia Eagles while his father was head coach. “He died of a heroin overdose,” Andy said. “That’s about as brutal as it’s going to get.”Coach Reid used a PowerPoint presentation that he had recently shown the Chiefs to illustrate how his faith is reflected in the principles he teaches his athletes. “Conduct yourself with class. You represent yourself and your family,” according to the presentation. Andy also shared four keys to winning in any phase of life: eliminate distractions, create energy, fear nothing and attack everything.“Jesus Christ gave us His best," he said. "In return, we give Him our best. Football is a microcosm of life. We will work to win."